Nii language

Nii
Ek Nii
Native to Papua New Guinea
Region Western Highlands Province
Native speakers
 12,000  (1991)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 nii
Glottolog niii1240[2]

Nii is a Trans–New Guinea language of the Chimbu–Wahgi branch spoken in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

Nii has an unusual number of lateral consonants: a typical dental approximant, /l̪/, plus both dental and velar lateral fricatives, /ɬ̪/ and /ʟ̝̊/, which are optionally voiced between vowels and do not occur in initial position.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Nii at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Nii". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  3. ↑ Foley, 1986:63, The Papuan languages of New Guinea